Support for graduate students in the department
Becky Mackelprang, a second-year graduate student in the Wildermuth Lab, has been awarded the prestigious Arnon Fellowship to continue studies and research in the department. The $33,000 award will provide financial support for an academic year, including living expenses and tuition.
"As I stand on the shoulders of giants like Dr. Arnon, I hope to make meaningful contributions to research in the field of plant biology that will move science forward, in addition to increasing food security and public well-being," Mackelprang said.
The Arnon Fellowship is funded by a private endowment which supports graduate students in the department and also funds an annual seminar and dinner. Daniel Arnon, a leading figure in photosynthesis research, spent his entire career at UC Berkeley.
Mackelprang was chosen because of her strong academic performance, excellent letters of evaluation by rotation-supervising professors during her first year at PMB and an academic and research performance that is consistent with Arnon's work ethic and expectation, said Professor Tasios Melis.
Mackelprang Research
"My goal is to understand the role of amino acid conjugation in the regulation of SA metabolism and plant defense," Mackelprang said. "This research should identify critical control points in plant defense with an eye towards development of tools to decrease loss of crops due to disease in environmentally and socially responsible ways."
In the Wildermuth Lab, Mackelprang studies how pathogens facilitate their growth and reproduction on a plant host, and how plants defend themselves against such attacks.
"The phytohormone salicylic acid (SA) is critical for both local and systemic responses to pathogens," Mackelprang said. "Because SA plays important roles in many biological processes in addition to plant defense, its concentration must be well controlled. I am currently studying the Arabidopsis GH3 family of enzymes, which belong to the broader firefly luciferase family of enzymes. GH3 enzymes play a critical role in regulating levels of active forms of phytohormones such as auxin and jasmonate through conjugating them to amino acids."